Wildcats roar into state

Several Wildcats qualify for state track meet

Jamel Townsend wins the boys 200-meter dash Friday at regionals in Santa Fe Trail. Jordan Riffel, left, placed third in the event and won the boys 100-meter dash. De Soto had several athletes qualify for this weekend’s state track meet in Wichita.

Coach Brian Dinkel’s squad turned in another fine performance at the regional meet last week, qualifying several of his athletes for this weekend’s state championships at Wichita State University.

“We did really well at the regional meet,” Dinkel said. “We qualified most of the kids we expected would qualify and then a few we were hoping to qualify. We’re really looking forward to state.”

One of the highlights for Dinkel was when Miranda Gilmore ran a personal best 26.73 in the 200-meter dash.

“The coaches were all very excited for Miranda,” Dinkel said. “She’s been real close to qualifying before and took third in this year’s regional. It was cool to get Miranda in.”

Gilmore also placed fifth in the 100-meter dash.

On the boys’ side Dinkel was particularly pleased with his 4x100-meter relay team. The team — consisting of Ryan Hicks, Caleb Adkins, Clinton Davis and Mark England — ran a near flawless 44.43.

“The guys pretty much needed to run a perfect race in order to qualify for state,” Dinkel said. “And that’s exactly what they did. It was cool for Davis and England because they’re seniors, also.”

The run was especially impressive for Davis, as this is the first year he’s gone out for the track team.

Jordan Riffel enters the state competition with a good chance to take some hardware back to De Soto after qualifying in three different events. He won the 100-meter and the 400-meter at the regional meet and snagged third in the 200-meter.

“Jordan absolutely flew in the 100-meter,” Dinkel said. “He ran a 10.95. Since I’ve coached at De Soto, I’ve never had a kid break the 11-second mark. He was pretty unbelievable.”

Colin Jokisch demonstrated his quality in the distance department for the last two weeks and qualified for the 1,600-meter and the 3,200-meter at the state meet. He will join Jamel Townsend as the other multiple-event qualifier, who is slated to compete in the 200-meter, the long jump and the triple jump.

Dinkel said he believes all of his competitors had a good chance to achieve their goals at the state meet because they have all been exposed to some difficult opponents throughout the year.

“We have a really tough region,” he added. “They all have a good chance to do well.”